MAY 7, 2010

Brawn: Michael and Nico ran different programmes

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn was happy with progress on the opening day of practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, with Michael Schumacher looking more competitive than he has thus far in 2010 with third quickest time behind the pace-setting Red Bulls. Brawn confirmed, however, that Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, who was seventh, half a second behind, had run different programmes.

"We still don't have a complete understanding of Michael's lack of Shanghai performance," Brawn said. "I think that even drivers of Michael's calibre face quite a challenge coming back to F1 after a three year absence but, saying that, I think Shanghai was an anomaly. His chassis had underside damage and is being repaired and he is using the testing chassis here with our modifications. He is relatively happy and the situation is back to what we saw in Malaysia with Shanghai being a blip."

"The drivers ran different programmes today with Nico making some different changes, so tonight we'll put all the packages together and see how we run the cars tomorrow. It's often the case that when you come to the Barcelona race the drivers say that the car isn't as good as it was in pre-season testing at the circuit but our drivers are saying that it's much better, so that's a positive. But it's still a moving target. If you stand still in F1 you go backwards by 0.2-0.3s per race."

Explaining the thinking behind the team's revised engine cover and air intakes, Brawn added: "It was done to improve the potential of the rear wing. At some circuits, including some of those coming up, you need that, and we think it is a better system."